Many people have thoughts on the heavy use of digital effects used by LucasFilm on movies such as the Star Wars prequels. If the details in one recent expo are accurate, however, the company is even deeper into the development of a next-generation digital workflow than anyone suspected.

Using footage from the canceled game Star Wars 1313 (which may not actually be canceled, according to this source) a chief LucasFilm tech officer explained the ways that the company has experimented with using a video game engine and game assets to flesh out “footage” shot with live actors in real-time motion capture suits.

Prior to developing 1313, LucasFilm created a short film, made in eight weeks, in which a modified LucasArts game engine was used to render effects in real time, at 24 frames per second. “The prototype was a film created on a games engine and a vision statement for where ILM would like to go in the future,” says LucasFilm’s chief technology strategy officer Kim Libreri. Get more info and watch his recent presentation below. Read More »